Perseverance

Webster says that perseverance is “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.”
 
So, in case you haven’t heard or experienced, this life comes with struggle, this life comes with hard things. There will be a point in your life with God, when things get hard, when fighting in prayer for someone seems useless. In hard times, we are not to give up doing what we know or feel we ought to be doing. This is the baseline definition of perseverance- to keep doing, or to keep going, especially when things are difficult and nothing is changing.
 
This is definitely not a bright or cheery subject, but life is not always bright and cheery. Being a Christian doesn’t mean we won’t ever walk into hard times or that we are somehow exempt from difficulty. Being a Christian and having access to our Father’s heart for us does mean that we get to have hope in the midst of hard things and that we have the ability to persevere in the face of hard things. In fact, Jesus says, “In this world you will have trouble.” But He goes on: “Take heart. For I have overcome the world.” He basically says, “Things are tough, but you should persevere because I have already won.”
 
In Romans 5:3-5, Paul says, “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” Then, in Romans 8:24-25, he says, “Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see? But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.”
 
First, Paul connects perseverance and hope for us. Then, he tells us what hope is. Hope is not what we have when things are going well. Hope is what we have in the midst of times that are hard, confusing, and challenging and require us to push through. Hope is what we have when life isn’t the way we want it to be, but we believe that one day, maybe soon, things will be better. So, hope is what keeps us moving, even when we want to stop, because it tells us that in the end things will work out for our good. Hope, then, is what fuels perseverance.

When we have hope, we are able to persevere. When we believe that one day things will be better, we are able to keep going until they are. And the best part is that hope does not depend on us. Hope is not the result of us mustering up faith or encouraging ourselves. Hope is the result of God. It comes from Him. Paul says that is comes from Him pouring His love into us, allowing us to know that He’s got it and the end result will be good. So, all we have to do is open ourselves up to Him and then fight to keep the hope alive. We have to cultivate and grow the hope He puts in us. When we want to give up, remember the truths that are in line with hope and act according to those. His promises will inspire hope and hope fuels perseverance.